Montessori at home
5 Core Principles
With our diverse philosophy at Scientist in the Crib (SITC), emphasizing the pedagogical Montessori method, and the development of emotional intelligence, SITC adheres to 5 Core Principles in our classroom and curriculum. It is important to continue the teachings emphasized at SITC, in the activities practiced at home.
Where to start?
Step 1: Parenting Montessori-style
1. Slow down - explore life with your child at a slow pace, and allow time for movement, conversation and gaining cooperation
2. Respect the child - speak and listen to your child as you would an adult
3. Hands on learning - provide concrete experiences for them to make discoveries by themselves
4. Follow the child - ask ourselves "what are they interested in right now and how can I provide opportunities to follow this interest?"
5. Include them in daily life - young children like to be involved in food preparation, setting the table, cleaning, doing laundry, doing the shopping and more
6. See things from the child's perspective - to understand our child's behavior and acknowledge their feelings
7. Use alternatives to bribes, rewards, and punishments - move from extrinsic motivators to ways to work with your child and solve problems together; instead of time out, we help them calm down, then make amends
8. Observe objectively rather than making assumptions of judgement - look how they move, the communication they make, the activities they are working to master, their social interactions, and how they eat/sleep
9. Be the guide - we are the adult guiding them (give as much help as needed and as little as possible) rather than being their boss (do as I say) or being their servant (I'll do everything for you)
10. Prepare ourselves - to look after ourselves to have patience, to fill our own bucket, to understand our own triggers, and find ways to come back to calm when needed
Step 2: Set up your home
To start using Montessori at home, the environment needs to be more accessible and inviting to the child. Here are some ideas to get started:
1. Child-sized furniture and tools - look for table and chairs where your child's feet sit flat on the ground; hunt for small tools like watering can, mop, broom and dustpan
2. Set up things for the child to be independent - make things accessible for the child (i.e. low hooks for their coat and bag), have cleaning things at the ready for them to use, and use trays and baskets to arrange activities so they can manage themselves
3. See the world from the child's eyes - sit on the floor to see how attractive the space is from their height and include plants and artwork at their height
4. Less is more - have fewer well-selected activities and remove clutter; put in a box anything they aren't playing with anymore and store it
5. Store and rotate - store most of the activities and leave out the favorites, and change as the child loses interest
Step 3: explore
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